abrdn plc Has $149.20 Million Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

abrdn plc reduced its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 914,006 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 66,303 shares during the period. abrdn plc owned 0.11% of Applied Materials worth $149,202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Applied Materials by 29.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,327,707,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509,439 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,077,107 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $340,895,000 after purchasing an additional 164,085 shares during the last quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 47.0% during the 3rd quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 67,915 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $13,722,000 after acquiring an additional 21,699 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,139,114 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $230,158,000 after purchasing an additional 15,183 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 62.6% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,698,282 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $343,138,000 after purchasing an additional 653,739 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMAT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 price target (down from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $218.71.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $178.80 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $174.48 and its 200 day moving average is $186.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $158.96 and a 52-week high of $255.89. The firm has a market cap of $145.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.77, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.53.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 18.58%.

Applied Materials Profile

Applied Materials, Inc engages in the provision of manufacturing equipment, services, and software to the semiconductor, display, and related industries. The company operates through three segments: Semiconductor Systems, Applied Global Services, and Display and Adjacent Markets. The Semiconductor Systems segment develops, manufactures, and sells various manufacturing equipment that is used to fabricate semiconductor chips or integrated circuits.